For some of us, summer is a time to get outside and get in shape, which is highly commendable. Unfortunately, the end of summer may elicit a change in behavior with a return to more sedentary living. There’s less daylight, less lawn and garden work and less time for walking, cycling, canoeing, hiking and other vigorous recreational activities.

If you are in this category, I challenge you to take steps to maintain (or improve) your present level of fitness throughout the fall months.

For others, summer is a time to relax and enjoy a slower pace of living. You spend lots of time with your family, take vacations, do day trips, have picnics and cool off at the beach. Graduation events, weddings and reunions make it difficult to maintain your ideal body weight, and the hot weather reduces your desire to exercise regularly. If this is a reasonably accurate description of your summer season, my challenge is to make September your starting point for improved physical fitness.

Most of us look to Labor Day as the start of a new year at school, college or work. With this common mindset, it is logical to consider this the time of year to begin a new exercise program. Considering that about 80 percent of American adults have too much fat, the main purpose of most exercise programs should be to reduce body fat and rebuild muscle/bone for both improved personal appearance and increased physical fitness. In addition to improving your body composition, a well-designed exercise program should also increase your muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance and joint flexibility.

Our research with more than 4,000 program participants has clearly shown that excellent fitness results can be attained without high-volume or time-consuming training sessions, as long as the exercise intensity is adequate. For example, in our body composition study, the class members trained for just one hour, two or three days a week, with a combination of strength, aerobic and flexibility exercise. After six months, they replaced almost 6 pounds of muscle and reduced 9 pounds of fat for a 15-pound improvement in their body composition and physical appearance.

In our follow-up bone density study, the participants again performed one-hour sessions of strength, aerobic and flexibility exercise, two or three days a week. After nine months of training, they experienced significant muscle gain, fat loss and blood pressure reduction, as well as modest increases in bone mineral density.

In our most recent weight loss study, conducted in cooperation with Boston Medical Center, the participants performed an innovative exercise program for about 45 minutes two or three days a week and achieved even higher rates of fat loss (almost 1 pound per week) while still rebuilding muscle.

Every survey indicates that the greatest obstacle to regular exercise is lack of time. It should therefore be encouraging to know that two weekly 45-minute exercise sessions are effective for reducing fat, restoring muscle, attaining relatively high levels of overall physical fitness (strength, endurance, flexibility) and associated health benefits (lower blood pressure, higher bone density, etc.). The critical factors for experiencing excellent results are properly designed exercise programs and appropriate training intensities. This does not mean exercising with maximum exertion, but training within a reasonable effort range that leads to better health and fitness.

Page 2 of 2 - If you would like to learn more about research-based training protocols for safe, effective and time-efficient exercise programs, attend my PowerPoint presentation Thursday, Aug. 21, at 5:15 p.m. at Quincy College (Room 019, Presidents Place). There is no charge, but please call my office at 617-984-1716 for seating purposes.

Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., teaches exercise science at Quincy College and consults for the South Shore YMCA. He has written 25 books on strength training and physical fitness.